Star Wars: The Last Jedi Empire Images Spotlight Luke, Phasma and More

Empire‘s cover story on Star Wars: The Last Jedi has brought with it several new images from the film. The next chapter of the Skywalker Saga is just four months away, although we don’t actually know much of what Episode VIII is about – there’s only been one trailer and the Force Friday II toy drop was, by director Rian Johnson’s admission, devoid of spoilers.

Most of what we’ve officially learned has come from in-depth magazine features. Following on the heels of exposes from Vanity Fair and Entertainment Weekly, Empire‘s coverage is obviously a bit lighter on big reveals – there’s not much more the cast and crew can really say about the secretive project – but it still had some cool details in there. The publication themselves had already revealed some choice quotes and images but now the full feature is here.

The magazine has hit newsstands and Screen Rant picked up a copy. The cover story boasts several new images from the film showing Rian Johnson working behind-the-scenes and the cast in the heat of action, which you can check out in the gallery below.

We have John Boyega and Oscar Isaac laughing along with Johnson on the set of the Resistance ship (that looks very similar interior-wise to Rebel cruisers) and later the director talking with a suited-up Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca). In terms of characters, there’s a shot of Poe running down the Resistance corridor as part of the assault scene glimpsed in the teaser trailer and Captain Phasma flanked by a pair of First Order Stormtroopers. Rounding off the set are new looks at Rey and Luke on Ahch-To.

These six images are in addition to two that have been made available online: Poe’s new X-Wing and Finn and Rose in casino Canto Bight. That pair are the most revealing – what’s in the magazine are simply dynamic variations on what we’ve already seen, although fresh glimpses of the film are always welcome.

The Last Jedi isn’t the only movie from the franchise under the looking glass this week. Episode IX recently parted ways with director Colin Trevorrow, prompting questions about the future of the series. Because of his seeming success with Episode VIII, Johnson has found himself in the running to replace the Jurassic World filmmaker, although no official announcement has been made yet.